


Two Ghosts

by Pixiestick_cc



Category: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016), Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Fluff, Healing, Light Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-19
Updated: 2020-08-15
Packaged: 2021-03-04 19:14:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,674
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25371463
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pixiestick_cc/pseuds/Pixiestick_cc
Summary: Together, Jyn and Cassian learn how to move beyond the ghosts still haunting them.
Relationships: Cassian Andor/Jyn Erso
Comments: 37
Kudos: 58





	1. Jyn

**Author's Note:**

> I know I'm probably not adding anything new to the fandom with this fic, but I just finished reading 'Rebel Rising' and rewatched 'Rogue One' and had the urge to write something angsty yet sweet.

It became like an open secret among their crew. Never spoken out loud but certainly insinuated with glances, nods, and smiles that could at times shift into knowing smirks. K-2SO was less subtle than the rest but even he never actually came out and said the words, only observed statistics that would brush up against his assumption of the truth without ever revealing it.

“You were alone with Jyn longer than it would take to relay information about our mission. Statistically, that highly indicates you were speaking about personal matters.”

“Thanks for the observation, Kay,” Cassian had said, a little annoyed with just a hint of humor dancing in his eyes when he glanced back at Jyn. 

Mostly, it seemed harmless as long as no one actually said anything too outlandish. Yes, she and Cassian were known to flirt now and again, but that just went with the territory. They worked well together. Both liked to give as good as they got, and it was their teasing, their natural back and forth, that got them through many stressful missions, starting with their first on Scarif. And to be perfectly honest, despite what everyone else believed, she didn’t really give their relationship much thought- more of a partnership in her eyes- and was only reminded of it when the others took notice. The rebel and the captain, they called them. In those moments she would fidget with her necklace before focusing back on what mattered. Avenging her parents and all the others she’d lost because of the Empire. Their deaths wouldn’t be in vain. All else was just background noise.

Until Cassian decided to change his tune. 

Up until that point, she assumed he got the joke. The expression on his face whenever someone would push past the truth into make-believe, caused her to think they were sharing the same mild exasperation. Unlike her though, his disposition made it easier for him to shrug off the gossip. “Let them have their fun,” he once told her when she’d glared at the back of Bodhi’s head for some remark that she couldn’t even remember now. Only that it made her face grow hot.

“Fun at my expense,” she’d muttered back to Cassian, sitting alongside her in the cockpit. Bodhi had begun working on some malfunctioning part of the ship while K-2SO berated him with wry observations, and Jyn shot him another glower. “It shows a lack of respect for me.” That’s what Saw would’ve said, before encouraging her to strike Bodhi across the jaw followed by a hard slam of her truncheon into his ribs. Those kinds of tactics didn’t work in the “official” rebellion. And besides, Bodhi was one of the gentlest creatures she knew. He only fought because he believed in the cause and her father’s legacy. Jyn would never hurt him. 

“Don’t look at it like that,” Cassian had replied. “He’s your friend. It’s the camaraderie you face when forced into close quarters. And don’t forget, I get the brunt of it too. I just think if it keeps the crew happy then why bother? You and I know the truth. That’s all that matters.” He’d smiled at her. A soft and genuine grin that coupled with the warmness in his eyes, cooled her annoyance into a low simmer.

But did he really know the truth? Were their truths the same? She thought so. That was until a blaster pierced her side. Extensive internal damage, the medi-droid had stated, ordering her out of commission for a week, during which the crew went on another mission, leaving her alone to heal on Yavin 4. “Don’t have any fun without me,” she told Cassian in an exchange that was muddled by the haze of powerful pain meds. 

He smiled, but it looked forced. “Okay, no fun. I’ll be sure to tell Kay. You know how he’s always having so much of that. Baze too,” he sardonically replied.

“You sound as sarcastic as K-2 right now.”

“Let’s see how much more like him I get without his favorite sparring partner around keeping him occupied. He’ll only have me to complain to.” Then he was gone. Off to Hoth with the rest.

Being left behind annoyed her, mostly because without something to do she was forced to deal with repressed memories that now had free rein to run rampant through a brain lacking focus. 

All her life she’d been forced to keep going to avoid ghosts of her past. Escaping with her parents. Surviving with Saw. Then on her own at sixteen before prison labor suffocated her with exhaustion, followed by three years of working with the Resistance. Only once had there been a moment of reprieve and she hated being reminded of her time on Skuhl with Akshaya and her son Hadder. Jyn had fallen into a false sense of security with them and promised herself never to let that happen again. She’d opened her heart to the idea of having a normal family. To being someone’s girlfriend. To love. Only for the Empire to come in and crush those hopes like tiny ants under the heel of a stormtrooper’s boot. Without the rest of her crew around, all of them working together for the greater good, it was all she could think about. Those she had loved and lost. 

When the medi-droids finally deemed her healed enough to continue improving in her own quarters, Rogue One was still off base and Jyn desperately wanted to escape to find them. Considering how close they’d all come to dying on Scarif, she hated the thought of not having their backs on whatever mission had taken them to Hoth, the exact opposite of a planet like Scarif. There, she and Cassian had huddled on a sandy-white beach while awaiting rescue. On Hoth she imagined him shivering alone inside an ice cave and yearned to be there for him.

 _Well, for all of them_ she absently amended.

Eventually, her worry calmed with the help of pain meds and she went to sleep, only to be forced awake- groggy and bleary-eyed- by a succession of loud thuds crashing against her door. Turning on the lights, she gathered her jumbled thoughts and then said, “Coming,” as the pounding continued, leaving her anxious that something terrible had happened. She pushed a button and her door swooshed open. There standing on the other side was Cassian. 

“Oh, Jyn,” he said her name like a sigh of relief.

“You’re back already?” She could barely see his face in the darkness of the hallway, which usually had its lights dimmed during nightly hours. Only central command and the main hanger were buzzing with energy at all times. “Did something bad happen?” she asked.

He limped inside without waiting for an invitation, forcing her to inch backward. Under the harsh light of her room, his ragged appearance became apparent. Cassian’s dark brown eyes, which usually radiated warmth, were now rimmed red and his cheeks looked sunken under his already scraggly beard. Worst of all were the burn marks littering his clothing. “We were attacked,” he explained, talking so fast his words were bleeding one into the next. “On Hoth. Most everyone made it out, but the base is gone. And when we escaped back here, you weren’t in your sickbed and the droids were too busy to tell me if you’d been discharged. They were being so unhelpful, I could’ve torn their heads clean off. All of them. The whole base is on edge, filling up with survivors and I thought ... I thought maybe you’d-” 

“You thought a blaster to my side was enough to take me out? Don’t you know me at all, Cassian Andor?” She felt like chuckling- or maybe that was the pain meds still flowing through her bloodstream. Either way, Cassian probably wouldn’t have appreciated it, and considering his appearance, neither did she. Forcing herself to sober-up, she added, “Well, here I am, still a little wounded but alive, and glad to see you’re okay. Is the crew okay too? The ship?”

Cassian nodded, then without warning, he closed the distance between them. Jyn let out a surprised grunt as her head came down to rest against his chest and his arms wound around her torso. He smelled of smoke and perspiration, his hold deeper than the embrace they'd shared on Scarif. A day when both assumed death was coming for them just over the horizon. Now, he was holding on as if letting go would lead to her demise. Jyn didn’t say anything when his sobs came out in soft bursts against her ear. At first, it startled her. He’d never cried in front of her before, let alone hold her close while doing so, but then she fell into their natural rhythm of anticipating each other’s needs. She held him, eventually leading him over to her bunk where they both fell asleep.

When she woke in the morning, he was gone, which didn’t seem strange. They had crowded together for sleep during past missions and sometimes she’d find herself alone upon waking. In Jyn’s eyes, this was no different. He’d needed her and she’d been there in the only way she could. 

While dressing, she examined her side. The droids had given her a few more days to heal, but they could suck a womp rat’s toe. She was done waiting. And clearly, the crew needed her. Cassian had said they'd made it out okay, but his reaction meant she’d missed one hell of a fight. Together, they all worked in sync: K-2, Bodhi, Baze, Churrit, but she and Cassian were something special. The two of them had a language all their own and could quickly communicate decisions with simply a look. And maybe if she’d been there on Hoth, Cassian wouldn’t have returned so broken. Yes, she would definitely have to work on her reflexes when anticipating the trajectory of a blaster when fired, but they weren’t Rogue One without her and she needed them just as much as they needed her. 

Especially Cassian, who wasn’t himself when she couldn't be there to keep an eye on him.

Leaving her quarters, intent on checking in with the others before demanding the higher-ups send her out on the next mission with them, Jyn had no idea just how prophetic her words about Cassian were or how their supposed shared truth regarding their relationship wasn’t so closely shared after all. 


	2. Cassian

Cassian never shied away from doing what was right for the greater good. He couldn’t be selfish. He couldn’t even be fair. When you were fighting for a movement bigger than yourself, you simply had to know that the choices you made meant the Resistance would live to fight another day. That was his only purpose. And Cassian never hesitated when it came to doing what needed to be done. No matter what.

That was … until Jyn.

She’d kept him from killing her father. She’d inspired him to go against orders and form Rogue One. Even when those in charge told him it was pointless and likely to end in a devastating defeat, Cassian still went along with Jyn’s ideals. She’d turned his headstrong need to always do what was best for the cause into doing what was best for the cause _and_ those he cared for. 

And above all else, she convinced him to hope. 

Hope- that elusive feeling- had faded long before Jyn entered his life. It wasn’t that he thought the Rebel Alliance wouldn’t succeed. Cassian just assumed he’d be long gone before that time came. But after they managed to seize the Death Star plans and then actually had a hand in destroying the Empire’s most prized weapon, it was all he could do. Hope. And believe it was possible to see an end to tyranny. That he- _they_ \- might live to see a galaxy finally at peace. He could make a difference while also not losing sight of who he was. 

Before Jyn, he tended to bury his guilt deep under calloused skin hardened by years of fighting against the Empire. She became the salve that allowed Cassian to reconcile those concealed emotions without letting them rule him. He could be more than just a rebel machine. It was possible to fight for a cause while still maintaining his soul. 

And over time, he found himself wondering what might have happened had he not freed Jyn from prison and someone else had been assigned that mission. Imagining a life without Jyn fighting alongside him, them slowly learning to trust each other, and growing to become the closest of friends, wasn’t anything worth contemplating for long. It was just too painful and after a while, he would always shake his mind free from the bleakness those thoughts stirred in him. But deep down, buried like all that old guilt he used to harbor, the truth still whispered to him. If he ever lost her, he might not recover.

And then came Hoth.

Cassian’s senses altered him seconds before the first explosion. A warning, like a breeze traveling along his skin, brought him to full attention. You didn’t spend years fighting an enemy without ever developing the ability to detect when they were near. “Kay,” he spoke into his comlink while rushing towards the ship, but before the droid could respond, a bright flash, followed by intense heat, sent Cassian flying until he landed flat on his back. 

Dazed, with the taste of gritty smoke in his mouth, he coughed then stared up at the hanger’s ceiling to see blaster bolts zooming overhead. A shrill alarm mixed with the residual ringing in his ears from the blast, momentarily disorienting him. Seconds passed before his mind cleared enough to realize his leg wouldn’t move. Blackened metal, twisted into the shape of a burning star, trapped him in place and had the potential to sear his flesh if he didn’t escape soon. Although considering the base was about to be overrun with stormtroopers, Cassian didn’t think the slow-spreading fire was much of a threat. Not when there’d soon be several blasters aimed at his head. “Kay! Are you there?” he yelled into his comlink. “Anyone? I’m trapped,” he tried again, only receiving pops and hisses in response. 

Cassian gave up on the comlink and reached for his blaster. If he had to go down, he’d at least fight back until the very end. The thought made him miserable. Dying this way. A sitting target, stuck and unable to make a meaningful last stand. Death wasn’t something he worried too much about. It was a hazard of the life he chose. To fight back meant that one day your fighting might come to an abrupt end. But he never thought it’d be like this. He always assumed K-2 would at least be there with him, droning on about the likelihood of their impending doom. They hadn’t even been on a real mission. Just getting familiar with the base. Mon Mothma was planning on relocating their team here. Jyn would’ve hated it. Hoth’s desolate landscape was similar to Wobani’s. But what did it matter now? No one was going to be here for much longer. Including him. 

And Jyn? Well, at least she was safe. In the end, that blaster bolt to her side he’d worried so much about had worked in her favor. He only wished he could’ve made their last interaction meaningful. Maybe revealed the other emotions he hid under his skin. Jyn had retrieved most of his guilt a long time ago, replacing it with a different sensation he’d been unwilling to admit to anyone, including himself. But now, staring down death’s door, he finally set them free and if she were here, he’d confess those feelings to her using the comlink.

Cassian pulled the communicator back to his mouth, an idea rising above all his gloom. His connection to the others might’ve been gone, but he had to try at least one last time. For Jyn. At this point, he didn’t even care if the rest of the crew heard. Most of them already suspected anyway. “Kay, if you manage to get out of this, please, tell Jyn …” He paused, pulling in a breath. How the hell was this harder than anything else he’d faced since joining the Rebellion? “Tell Jyn that I love her.”

A stormtrooper emerged from behind the burning star just as his confession was ending. Cassian moved for his blaster again at the same moment his enemy aimed his. Only neither were able to get a shot off as the trooper was suddenly lifted from behind and thrown across the hanger. “K-kay?” Cassian stuttered, shocked to see the droid standing unharmed where the stormtrooper had just been. K-2SO would never be able to emote with expressions, but his acerbic responses to situations were so common that they’d become predictable. And when he offered Cassian his large metal hand after removing the debris keeping him in place, the droid didn't stray from his mode of operation.

“Tell Jyn you love her yourself. I’m not getting involved in that.”

* * *

Cassian’s ankle was broken and of their five-member team, he’d borne the brunt of the attack. Since Bodhi took over flying duties with K-2 as his co-pilot, and Churrit wasn’t exactly able to fix an injury, the task was given to Baze, whose gruff bedside manner made the process all the more painful. They’d lost an entire base, but Rogue One had made it out with only minor injuries. It was equal parts depressing and encouraging. You couldn’t win every battle in a war and if you made it out alive then that meant you could keep fighting. This little mantra had gotten him through many failures in the past. He was alive. Those he cared for were with him. Well, all except one, and she thankfully was safe.

And even if it wasn’t as important, Cassian was grateful the others hadn’t heard his confession about Jyn. The damaged comlink revealed only his original cry for help, prompting K-2's rush to the rescue, and in the process, he just happened to catch a dying man’s last wish. Although surprisingly Cassian hadn’t died and was now living with the embarrassing awareness that K-2 knew one of his best-kept secrets. But the droid wouldn’t say a word. It wasn’t in his programming to care about Cassian’s personal life- not that he’d had much of one before Jyn anyway- and if someone had to hold that knowledge over his head, a droid who would rather not get involved was the best option to have.

* * *

The Empire may have found Hoth, but Yavin 4 remained in place, hidden and safe for now. Cassian didn’t bother having his ankle examined once he reached the medical ward inside the base. He could manage walking based on what Baze had done and there would be enough time later to focus on himself. His near-death experience coupled with finally admitting his feelings for Jyn put him on a single-minded mission to find her. All those other things, his injury, K-2 knowing, the rest of the crew, and his battle-scarred ship could wait. Once Cassian realized her importance, she became the only person who mattered to him even if it wasn’t exactly clear what he’d tell her once they were reunited. 

Maybe everything. Maybe nothing. 

In the end, he opted for something that wasn’t quite either, with just a touch of a nervous breakdown brought on by his inability to find her in the overcrowded medical ward. After getting into a one-sided shouting match with a medi-droid, Cassian was hauled away by one of his superiors and told to rest in his quarters or he'd be restrained with a sedative. He disobeyed and went straight to Jyn’s room. He had to at least check. And there, like a light in the darkness, she stared at him from the other side of her door. Hair skewed, eyes red, clothes crumbled, and wearing an expression that conveyed her confusion.

And at that moment, there wasn’t a more beautiful sight in the galaxy to him.

He might’ve told her so had his relief and exhaustion not sent him spiraling until he was weeping on her shoulder. It wasn’t even close to the many scenarios he’d visualized while on his way back to Yavin 4. Not at all. And still, Jyn didn’t shy away from his impromptu embrace and knew exactly what to do. Always so intuitive to his needs, she held him until Cassian’s tumultuous thoughts faded into sleep where he found himself in another world, one where she was still holding him, and they were at peace together. In the morning, he carefully untangled their limbs, Jyn’s breathing interlacing with soft snores as he moved. Before leaving, Cassian pressed a soft kiss against her forehead, she briefly stirred then fell back into the same steady breathing pattern.

K-2SO encountered Cassian on his way to the medical ward to have his ankle finally looked at. “Did you tell her?” the droid asked, in a tone that revealed he actually didn’t care. 

“I thought you didn’t want to be involved,” he shot back. Sleeping in Jyn’s cramped bunk had made him cranky despite the company he kept while there.

“I only care that you’re not distracted. And you will be until you tell her.”

Cassian shrugged and replied, “Soon.”

“That is a vague answer.”

“How smart of you to notice,” Cassian teasingly mocked and continued on down the hallway. 


	3. K-2SO

Cassian Andor reprogrammed K-2SO a long time ago, and while the droid retained qualities from his time spent serving the Galactic Empire, he equated it to having a faulty connection. They were there, he sensed their presence, but he was unable to access them. In exchange for what he lost, Cassian had given K-2SO individuality and a new purpose- working for the Resistance. Individuality let him perceive this new allegiance as a choice rather than a product of programming. He fought for one side over the other because it was the right thing to do. 

Although, that didn’t mean K-2SO had to enjoy every moment he was functioning. 

He also didn’t have to agree with every decision the Resistance made, which Cassian preferred despite his many grumblings whenever K-2SO mentioned a misgiving or an uninvited statistic. His human companion would rather have a droid willing to challenge authority than one who blindly followed orders. That was what a real team did, Cassian said. They challenged each other. 

Team, he soon learned, was a fluid term. What used to only be K-2SO and Cassian had converted into K-2SO, Cassian, and Jyn. More were added along the way, and then it simply became Cassian and Jyn. Rogue One was his crew, but Jyn and Cassian were a team.

K-2SO found he didn’t mind their closeness or feel rejected by Cassian’s apparent preference for Jyn over him. It stirred an unfamiliar sensation that he eventually cataloged away as joy. He was happy for them, but also irritated over their slow progression. His programming dictated that he should not care what Cassian did outside of their missions, and yet K-2SO found this not to be true. He did care. An awful lot. His desire to fight for the Resistance made it so he was always viewing situations statistically on the likelihood of a win or a defeat. If Cassian kept his feelings for Jyn hidden, their crew was more likely to fail due to his distraction. But if K-2SO spoke up, Cassian was less likely to say anything to Jyn at all. 

It was a problem with no solution until Cassian finally broke his silence. Not to Jyn but to K-2SO. “Tell Jyn I love her,” he overheard him say. Statistically, the odds were not great she would receive the news well if it came from a droid who often argued with her. 

“Tell Jyn you love her yourself,” he’d answered. He wouldn’t get involved, and since Cassian survived the blast that had prompted his confession, K-2SO was confident he would finally tell Jyn. There was an 80% chance of him following through. 

And yet, even droids could get things wrong. When Cassian remained silent weeks after his disclosure of love to a broken comlink, K-2SO’s individuality told him enough was enough. He reexamined his choice of not involving himself and projected the odds had shifted. The team of Cassian and Jyn had become closer. Both were attending to each other’s needs more. A new depth had formed between them, and still, Cassian kept quiet. It took K-2SO approximately twelve seconds to understand what he hadn’t taken into account. He denied himself the joy of realizing Cassian and Jyn had transitioned from a team into a couple and chose to feel hurt instead. 

“Cassian, you lied to me about Jyn,” K-2SO said when they were alone in the cockpit. The others were on their way. If he didn’t want them to hear, Cassian would have to admit his falsehood quickly or risk their conversation extending into the crew’s arrival.

His companion was quiet for a moment, a look of indecision passing over his face. “I didn’t lie,” he eventually responded. “When you asked, I hadn’t told her yet. Not really. And when it did happen, it wasn’t a confession either. It was just … it’s like the walls finally came down. We didn’t have to say anything. We knew.”

“You kept your relationship a secret. That might not be lying, but you were omitting the truth.” 

“She’s not ready to tell anyone,” Cassian whispered, warily glancing over his shoulder. “And honestly, how can we have a real relationship while fighting a war? We’ve both got scars that make that impossible. What we have … it works for us, Kay, and we don’t need to announce it to the whole Resistance, let alone the Empire. Jyn and me, we make do with what we have.”

K-2SO detected his feelings of hurt leave his system and the joy he’d compartmentalized returned. “I can sense that this is not a lie, and I would like to say that I am happy for you both, and will keep your secret as long as you need me to.”

“Thanks, Kay,” Cassian said, smiling.

“So long as you tell me when you had your first kiss.” His smile faded, but K-2SO was undeterred. “I am the one who stopped Jyn from running off on Wobani. I deserve some credit for your relationship.”

“Kay,” Cassian spoke his name as a warning. “I am _not_ telling you a personal detail like that.”

“Well, I will.” 

They both turned their heads at the same moment to see Jyn approaching. She greeted Cassian with a quick kiss and K-2SO with a smile that he deemed mischievous. “So you know?”

“I didn’t say anything,” Cassian began, but Jyn shushed him.

“I knew you'd be the first to figure it out. Two months, huh? I admit, that’s much longer than I originally thought. Looks like you’re slowing down.”

She was baiting him, but K-2SO wouldn’t take it. “And so you’ll tell me?”

“Course I will, so long as Cassian's okay with it.” She turned to face him and raised an eyebrow. “Cassian?”

He coughed into his hand, and K-2SO was certain he was hiding a nervous smile. “Better hurry if you don’t want the others to hear,” Cassian begrudgingly answered.

* * *

_(Before)_

Considering the Rebel Alliance had lost an entire base along with many of its fighters, Jyn was granted an early reinstatement. She didn’t ask who had perished in the fight. They would all learn soon enough, and it made her thank the stars that those most important to her hadn’t been among the casualties. Even K-2SO, who she’d grown to accept despite his constant abrasive observations, was among that group, and when she ran into him moments after being placed back on active duty, she shared the good news. “I’ve been released to fight,” she told him. “So that means we’re all back together, and you’ll have to put up with me again.”

“Oh, I’m not so sure about that,” K-2 replied as if she hadn’t just given him a wry comment meant to get under his skin … well, metal anyway. “Cassian is having his ankle repaired, and a broken ankle will take a day or two to heal. I estimate it might be even longer seeing as he ignored it to see you last night.”

“Broken?” Jyn’s gaze narrowed. “But he seemed fine. Well, not fine but certainly okay enough …” she paused to think. The pain meds had made her a bit unsteady when he came pounding on the door in the middle of the night. He did have a slight limp, but it never occurred to her that it was anything serious. “Where is he?” she demanded, not sure why her voice had turned forceful. It was just a broken ankle. Maybe she was mad he’d come to her first instead of taking care of himself. _Idiot_.

“The medical ward, I assume. Isn’t that where the injured go? But what do I know? I’m just a droid.”

 _It’s nothing serious,_ Jyn told herself as she ran, barely giving K-2 a proper goodbye. And by the time she finally found Cassian lost inside a maze of beds- some makeshift as the medi-droids suddenly had an influx of patients from Hoth- she’d calmed enough to keep from shouting curses at him … or maybe that was just due to being out of breath. “Why didn’t you come here last night?” she gasped, the beat of her heart thrumming so loud in her ears it nearly drowned out Cassian’s reply.

“You were more important.”

“I was more important? I was on the mend when you left. You worry too much.”

“Let me rephrase that. You were more important to my well-being.” He gestured to his ankle, propped up on the bed, waiting to be looked at. “This will heal in time, but I needed you to fix the pain in here.” Moving his hand over his heart, he gave it a little tap. “When we almost died on Scarif, I wasn’t afraid. On Hoth, I was all alone, and my only thought was that I’d never see you again. So, I needed that reassurance when I came back. That you were still here and so was I. Sometimes I …” he hesitated, his adam’s apple bobbing as he swallowed. “I feel like I only exist when you’re around.”

Jyn's mouth suddenly felt dry and filled with sand. Cassian’s confession was so heartfelt and sincere that it left her speechless, unable to articulate exactly how his words affected her. So when a medi-droid bumped her aside in an attempt to look him over, she simply said, “Oh.” 

As the droid worked, Jyn watched from the side, her fingers anxiously twisting the kyber crystal that hung around her neck. Cassian was a mixture of grimaces and groans throughout the procedure, and when it was time for his release, she helped him walk back to his quarters. Neither spoke, the air seemed thick between them, and it reminded her of the gritty sand still stuck in her mouth. “Stay with me,” he said, breaking the silence as they both stood in front of his door. Jyn wanted to decline. She knew what this meant. Staying with him now would feel different. And she remembered Hadder. Her parents. Saw. All those she’d watched die. And if she let him into her heart, his death would likely gut her too.

“Cassian,” his name was a whisper of apprehension. In response, he brought his hand up to cup her cheek, the callouses on his palm grazing her skin. It was like a metaphor for who he was. On the surface, rough and giving off the perception of someone damaged beyond repair, but underneath was the soul of a sentimental fool. And it was then that realization struck. Her heart had been lost to him a long time ago. “Alright,” she finally answered.

It took her a little while longer to reveal this revelation to Cassian. And when it did happen, Jyn didn’t give some grand speech or heartfelt words. Those had always been difficult for her unless she was rallying fighters for the cause. Jyn had been so good at keeping others at arm’s length for so long that being honest about love felt foreign. But then, of course, Cassian had wormed his way into her heart without her even knowing. Clearly, she wasn’t that good at it.

Weeks passed, and Rogue One was sent on a reconnaissance mission. Jyn and Cassian were huddled together in a dark cave they were using as cover while gathering intel from afar. The others were sleeping; K-2 was on the ship recharging. “You saved me. I was a ghost when we met,” she whispered into the darkness, Cassian’s face inches from hers.

“We saved each other,” he replied, his expression turning soft. 

And that was all Jyn needed to hear. The last bit of resistance guarding her heart fell like armor, clattering to the ground as if announcing she was finally free, never truly whole but certainly allowed to love again. An urgent need spread through her and she pressed her mouth against his for a kiss that was intense yet brief. Cassian appeared bewildered when she pulled away and Jyn fought the urge to laugh. Surely, he never thought she’d be the one to take the initiative of a first kiss. His shock lasted only a moment before a smile took its place, and his lips found hers again, softer and gentler than she’d been. They didn’t have much time to explore this new aspect of their relationship, but once the mission was over, Jyn fully expected both their quarters would be suitable enough for that and more.

They were two ghosts who'd found each other in the dark. And love, like hope, was giving them a second chance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading and if you enjoyed what I wrote please consider leaving a comment.


End file.
